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Supermodel

Kerry James Marshall (American, born in 1955)
1994

Medium/Technique Acrylic and mixed media on board
Dimensions 63.5 x 63.5 cm (25 x 25 in.)
Credit Line The John Axelrod Collection—Frank B. Bemis Fund, Charles H. Bayley Fund, and The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection
Accession Number2011.1825
ClassificationsPaintings
Addressing what he calls “the lack in the image bank” of Western art history, Kerry James Marshall foregrounds Black subjects in his paintings. Inspired by personal history as well as American experience, Marshall’s work revels in complexity and ambiguity, combining beauty, difficulty, and unknowability. Grounding his aesthetics in Black identity, Marshall painted a series of portraits named “Supermodel” in 1994, many spotlighting Black women. This series coincided with his famous "Lost Boys" series of portraits depicting young Black boys. This painting presents a figure, perhaps “self-satisfied,” as the artist often describes his confident Black subjects who are not defined by trauma

ProvenanceBy 1998, with Jack Tilton Gallery, New York; February 1998, sold by Jack Tilton Gallery to John Axelrod, Boston; 2011, sold by Axelrod to the MFA. (Accession date: June 22, 2011)
CopyrightCourtesy of the artist & Jack Shainman Gallery, NY